June 3, 2015

If you have not spent a single moment of your life in the meditation on art, professor, don’t talk to me about your “love” for art, or of being “an artist” etc. Talk to me instead about the plants at the arboretum, the weather, politics, or the stock market, since those are what one can understand. Tell me something real instead, which would make you a better person, since you must now play your hand with the real for once, instead of dwelling on some fabricated or phony stuffs that have made you so unbearably fake and overly pretentious! One thing is for sure, without art or poetry this is a dull place, and life can be so dry and bland and unbearable, but without your abominable lies this world will be so much better and cleaner! So just don’t pretend you love art when in fact you don’t even understand what art is!

Once again, I must equate the study of art with the examination of, or an investigation into, the works of those who have come before us, those who know what art is, in other words, the artistic geniuses. I am not trying consciously to shame you here, even though shaming the academia has become a necessary by-product whenever a discussion on the topic of art is in force. That brings to mind a recent speech by Jack Ma at Columbia University. For the uninitiated, Jack Ma is currently the greatest entrepreneur in the world. Right in the face of many world-renowned academics, Jack Ma had told the audience at Columbia that if you invest enough money on an academic for him to set up shop, Jack was almost certain that the academic would bankrupt that shop in no time. Yet the same kind of folks are teaching our young people how to run their shops at business schools or make art at art schools! As I have said before, the two most worthless kinds of degrees ever created by the academia are called MFA and MBA, and now hearing that blunt but candid comment coming from a guy who was rejected 10 times in his life applying to study in Harvard sounds both ironical and familiar. (To be frank with you, I also applied once,– to teach in Harvard in 2005 and was rejected, –but 10 times! this guy must be some sort of a nut! However, Cezanne also applied to exhibit at the Paris Salon as much as Jack Ma did for Harvard, and was rejected too, just as much,–so Jack was not alone!)

As for an academic exhorting young people, congratulating and encouraging them on the grim purpose of having achieved a completely worthless degree as the MFA is not just wrong in my opinion, but also a cover-up for all the failures and ignorance he has created in his own life as a result of an incorrect first view of the universe, and therefore, all the subsequent notions and actions in tow that are inevitably chewed up by his own mistaken first step.

How then do you study art and be in love with it eventually? What is the first thing about that notion really? At point is the narrative that the Alpha Seer, or the great Knox Martin, and all those venerable souls who had studied Brouwver and Yeats in a correct way and fell in love, despite the many years in between from the time those works were first created. And the proof for such correctness is the fact that we are still deeply in love even though many years have passed since. If it is an experience we have, then it is entirely possible for some young brilliant minds in the future to study art in such a way, and become in love with the works likewise, as an indication of the correctness of this method. And this love, I can guarantee, will by no means fade away with the passage of time.

What is the second thing about this so-called CORRECT FIRST VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE? The following attachments, WHICH ARE SELF- EXPLANATORY, will tell you what I mean by the correct first view of the universe. If you look at the lower skirt of Brouwver’s Yin element, you will see a calligraphic wavy line. Why is that line important? It is important because this line indicates the lower reach of the Yin element in Brouwver’s composition. The Yin element is responsible for all the black forms, i.e. the totality of the black in the composition. The correct first view of the universe lies in the understanding of a painting that is composed of Yin and Yang, and all knowledge of its very composition start from there. And what with W.B. Yeats’ verses being composed of 10 intonations in each line, which are perfectly rhymed at every alternate turn, or something to that effect? Studying art and poetry in such a manner is what I call sustaining the correct first view of the universe. What happens when your first view of the universe is broken or downright wrong? With the first view being mistaken, all subsequent stages of learning will be doomed, and they will become one big mess! In both the art of Adrien Brouwver and the poetry of W.B. Yeats, the divine attempt is made in establishing, whether through numbers or geometry or beats created by rhyming, their extraordinary perception. After being re-ordered in their expressions in this manner, they begin to make good sense in their elements against the mundane, the prosaic, the vulgar, and the mediocre, which appear to us in the forms shaped by random and chaotic forces. To both men therefore, engaging their act of creation based on the correct first view of their specific universe has become the focus of art.

But look at what the professors have to say. They are essentially telling their students that:

Yes, Andy Warhol is art, Damien Hirst is art, Jeff Koons is art, Francis Bacon is art, Frida Kahlo is art, oh yes, just name it, my friend, there is really no limit for the possibility in anything to become art!

Yeah, this is art, that and that are art of course, and why? Let’s face it: everything, anything at all, has the potential to be art, and so can every piece of crap in the world,– oh sure,– mark my words for it: they are no craps, their names are just “art!” Isn’t it exciting, sirs?

As soon as a skeptic registers his protest : Ah! what sinister forces of randomness and chaos! What ugliness! they would retort, “So? We are popular! We are in the majority. The majority always rule, not to mention the fact that we are so much more popular!!!!”

And would you blame Jack Ma for saying that the academics are here to bankrupt us all?

I am sorry I’ve hurt your feeling, professor! But isn’t it more important to preserve the correct first view of the universe for the young than nourish vindictiveness for a hurt ego? After all, like Jack Ma, I am only speaking the truth!

DON’T FORGET, THEY ARE OUR YOUNG, AND YOU ARE MISLEADING THEM: DOES THAT NOT MAKE YOU AN ASSHOLE???!!!

April 3, 2015

IT IS HARD FOR THE UNINFORMED LAYMEN TO LOVE A MASTERPIECE AT FIRST SIGHT WITHOUT GOING THROUGH AN EPISODE FOR THE CORRECT UNDERSTANDING OF ITS DYNAMICS,– ONCE THOSE ARE MADE CLEAR AND THEIR ROLES BECOME VISIBLE, IT WILL THEN BECOME VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR US NOT TO LOVE THE WORK!

LIKING SOMETHING AT RANDOM IS PERSONAL, TEMPERAMENTAL, AND NECESSARILY IMPERMANENT; WHILE EMBRACING SOMETHING AS PRECIOUS WITH PROFOUND UNDERSTANDING AND UNDYING LOVE CAN BE UNIVERSAL, REASONABLE, FULFILLING, AND EVERLASTING! A REAL MASTERPIECE IS THE PHYSICAL EMBODIMENT OF BEAUTY! TAJ MALHAL, FOR EXAMPLE, CAN BE CALLED AN EMBODIMENT OF BEAUTY,– SO IS A PROPER FRAGMENT OF EGYPTIAN ART. WHY? BECAUSE THEY ARE THINGS OF PERFECTION, AND BEAUTY RESIDES IN THE DIVINE, THAT WHICH STARTLES THE SOUL INTO THE RECOGNITION THAT MAN IS THE ACTUAL CREATOR OF HIS OWN UNIVERSE.

ONLY SOME INTEMPERATE AND SUPERFICIAL DEMONS CAN DECIPHER WHAT AND WHY THE GENERAL PUBLIC LIKE OR DISLIKE,–NOR DOES THE ALPHA SEER CARE IN THE LEAST ! THEY HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO LIKE A MICKEY MOUSE ON A STICK, A PILE OF DUNG AT THE PLATE, AN ANDY WARHOL IN A CAN, A DAMIEN HIRST MASTURBATING AS A SHARK, OR AN ODIOUS JEFF KOONS LOUDLY SODOMIZING HIMSELF IN PUBLIC,–THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY AFTER ALL, ALBEIT ONE WITHIN THE DOMAIN OF,–ALAS– WHAT ABYSMALLY MEDIOCRE EPOCH!

EVEN THOUGH HUMANITY HAS BEEN CONFRONTED BY SUCH IMMENSE CHALLENGE, ONCE THE SEED OF REALITY IS PLANTED UPON THE COLLECTIVE WISDOM IT IS STILL POSSIBLE TO ALLOW HUMANITY TO FEAST IN THE LUXURIOUS BANQUET OF ARTISTIC BLISS LATER ON.

ARE YOU ARTISTICALLY LITERATE, OR ARE YOU WILLFULLY CLINGING TO YOUR HERD INSTINCT, PROUD OF YOUR OWN ILLITERACY, UNENLIGHTENED ASPECTS, AND UGLY PROSPECT, AND UNASHAMED IN THE SLIGHTEST, AND AT THE RISK OF BECOMING A LAUGHING STOCK TO A MORE SOPHISTICATED FUTURE? THAT, I SAY, IS THE ULTIMATE QUESTION! YES, THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS ALSO FOLLOWS THE GLORIOUS TRENDS AND PATTERNS OF UP AND DOWN LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE. THERE ARE DECAY AND RENEWAL AROUND EACH CORNER. THE FACT THAT SOMETHING IS INVISIBLE TO YOU DOES NOT MEAN IT DOES NOT EXIST.

THE CASE IN POINT IS ONE MASTERPIECE BY THE GENIUS KNOX MARTIN, WHICH THE ALPHA SEER HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE OF RETRIEVING FROM AN OLD PILE.

FIGURE 1 : WOMAN IN RED SKIRT BY KNOX MARTIN

FIGURE 2: TAJ MAHAL VIEWED FROM INSIDE A BUILDING.

MAGIC AND FRESHNESS PERMEATE THIS COMPOSITION. THE DOMINATING APPLICATION OF RED HAS GIVEN IT A VERY STRONG CHEMISTRY, PARTAKING OF YIN AND YANG.

THEN YOU HAVE THE MULTIPLE MOVEMENTS WITH WHICH THE ENTIRE ENTITY SUDDENLY COMES ALIVE. SIX MAIN TYPES OF MOTIONS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED. THE MOST OBVIOUS IS THE CIRCULAR MOTION OF THE RED, FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY THE CIRCULAR MOTION OF THE WHITE. THEN THERE IS THE RADIATING MOTION FORMED BY THE LIMBS, AND THE MOTION PLAYED BY THE LINES THAT TURN OUT TO BE THE CREASES OF A SKIRT, GIVING THE IMPRESSION OF A RED-HOT LARVA OUTFLOW FROM A FEVERISH VOLCANO. THERE IS ALSO A TANTALIZING DANCE, ALL AT ONCE INTIMATE, INTRICATE, DELICATE, DELICIOUS AND GRACEFUL, OF LOCAL LINES REPRESENTING THE FINGERS, THE NAILS, THE EYES, THE EYEBROWS, THE BRIDGE OF THE NOSE, THE FACIAL PARTITION, THE CHIN, THE LIPS AND THE ROSY COSMETIC SPOTS.

BUT THE MOST SIGNIFICANT THING ABOUT A KNOX MARTIN LIES IN THE CREATION OF THOSE WONDROUS METAPHORS, CHIEFLY FACIAL PORTRAYAL BY NATURE, ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH A NEW PARADIGM OF FLAT, GEOMETRIC, PRECISELY RELATING, MAGICALLY INTERTWINED, FIERCELY LOGICAL, AND MATHEMATICALLY SUPREME, SET OF LINES AND SHAPES.

KNOX HAS ALWAYS BEEN A WONDERFUL PORTRAITIST,– SUCH AN INCARNATE OF THE GREAT PORTRAITIST FRANZ HALS IS KNOX MARTIN! THOSE EXOTIC FEATURES DEEPLY INVOKING OF AFRICAN ART HAVE BECOME ALTOGETHER ONE OF LINGERING POETIC CHARM AND A FANTASTIC REINVENTING OF PAINTING ITSELF,–A DIVINE EXECUTION NOT KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN ATTEMPTED BEFORE OR ONE THAT CAN BE DUPLICATED HEREAFTER. BECAUSE OF THAT, ONE DARESAY KNOX MARTIN WILL ONE DAY BE HAILED AS A PAINTERLY PROPHET WHOSE ACHIEVEMENT IS COMPARABLE TO, IF NOT BEYOND THAT OF, THE ARTISTIC EFFORT OF THE GREAT VAN EYCK OR TITIAN.

THE DASH OF INTENSE YELLOW ON THE LOWER LEFT WITH A SUGGESTION OF PINK ON THE RIGHT ENTERTAIN A SUBTLE COLOR RENDITION THAT LOOKS UP TO THE IMMENSITY OF THE RED, SOMEWHAT LIKE A PINCH OF SALT DASHED ONTO AN OTHERWISE SPARTAN AND BASIC, (YET NOURISHING) DISH FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF ITS FLAVOR.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, IS THE BALANCE AND HARMONIZING EFFECT PROVIDED BY THE WHITE IN THE LOWER LEFT, THE SNOW OF THE LEGS, AND THEN THE PINK OF THE TRIANGLES FROM THE LOWER RIGHT. THIS DYNAMIC GENERATED FROM THE YANG ENERGY HAS BEEN COUNTERACTED BY THE CRIS-CROSSED RECTANGLE, FOLLOWED IN TOW LIKE A CHAIN OF GOLD, BY A WELL PROPORTIONED, CALLIGRAPHIC SIGNATURE, ALONG WITH THE HIGH HEELS AT THE BASES OF TWO DELICIOUS LEGS. AT THIS JUNCTURE ONE MAY CONCLUDE THAT YIN IS YANG AND YANG IS YIN, BECAUSE SUCH A YANG CAN ONLY BEGET THAT PARTICULAR YIN! YIN AND YANG WILL THEREAFTER BECOME ONE UNDER THE DHARMA, A.K.A.THE UNIVERSAL LAW, OF TRUE PAINTING.

THERE IS NEVER ANY SHORTAGE IN THE SUPPLY OF EROTICA. THE FINGERS, THE TEATS, THE LEGS, THE HIGH HEELS, EYES, NOSE, NOSE BRIDGE AND PARTITION OF THE FACE, NOSTRILS, ETC.,– THEY HAVE ALL COME TOGETHER IN WEAVING A SEDUCTIVE PATTERN OF FEMININE FETISH WHICH ONLY AN AROUSED SATYR LIKE PICASSO OR MATISSE MAY FULLY COMPREHEND, AND HAVE STRONG APPETITE FOR.

THE SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT DEMONSTRATES A GAME- CHANGING SABOTAGE AGAINST THE CONVENTION OF FIGURE/GROUND TRANSPORTATION. THROUGH THE MERGER OF THAT DUALITY IS EMERGED THE METAPHORS FOR A BRAND NEW PAINTERLY LANGUAGE UNIQUELY SUITED TO THE POETIC EXPRESSION OF THE ARTIST KNOX MARTIN. THAT FIGURE/GROUND SABOTAGE IS VIVIDLY AND ESPECIALLY EVIDENT WITH THE WOMAN’S EXOTIC FINGERS, EYES AND OTHER INTRIGUING LINES SUPPORTING AND REPRESENTING THE FACIAL FEATURES, WITH ONE SHAPE CUTTING UNTO THE OTHER, FORMING THE FELICITY OF AN ENCHANTING MAZE GARDEN THEREIN!

THE LINEAGE AND THE CALLIGRAPHIC ASPECTS OF A KNOX MARTIN CAN ONLY BE FELT IN FULL FORCE BY SOMEONE WITH EXCEPTIONAL PERCEPTION AND TALENT. THAT IS INEVITABLE, AND SINCE THE NUMBER OF THAT GROUP IS EXTREMELY SMALL, TOTAL ENJOYMENT CAN ONLY EXIST FOR A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE. LET’S FACE IT, ART IS NOT SOMETHING THAT ONE CAN ACQUIRE THROUGH MERE COGNITIVE LEARNING! TO COMPREHEND REALITY ONE MUST LOOK INWARD WITH DEEP ABSORPTION AND SPIRITUALITY.

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE UNDERSTANDING OF A MASTERPIECE IS INCOMPLETE WITHOUT A HOLISTIC APPROACH. IN OTHER WORDS, PARTIAL UNDERSTANDING WILL NEVER YIELD THE MAXIMUM VISUAL BENEFITS. YOU CANNOT TAKE A KNOX MARTIN APART, FOR EXAMPLE, OTHERWISE IT’S JUST THE SUPERFICIAL PERSON PROCLAIMING HIS/HER “LOVE” FOR THIS PIECE OF MATHEMATICS, AS ESSENTIALLY A GERMAN ONE, OR A “PASSION” FOR THAT PIECE OF SCIENCE, AS BASICALLY CHINESE OR AMERICAN IN CHARACTER, SOUNDING VERY MUCH LIKE SOME OF OUR IGNORANT AND PARASITIC FOLKS, WHOM THE PUBLIC NAIVELY BELIEVE TO BE THE PUNDITS, OR GURUS, OF ART IN THE CONTEMPORARY ART SCENE. THAT IS NONSENSICAL AND FOOLISH TO THE EXTREME, BOTH THE PUBLIC AND THE “PUNDITS!”

THE MAXIMAL VISUAL EFFECT CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED HOLISTICALLY. ANYTHING LESS THAN WHOLE IN UNDERSTANDING A MASTERPIECE MAY JUST BE ANOTHER DOSE OF SELF- INDULGENCE, I.E. BOTH SELF-DECEPTIVE AND UNRELIABLE.

February 12, 2015

But even excellent is unacceptable. It has to be perfect!How perfect? Have you seen Egyptian art?
It has to be Egyptian art perfect!
Have you seen Greek art?
It has to be Greek art perfect!
Have you seen the Alhambra? It has to be Alhambra perfect!
Have you seen the Taj Mahal? It has to be Taj Mahal perfect!

Everyone talks about the Renaissance. But do you know that it is a period of corruption OF REAL ART?– this Renaissance hanging in everyone’s lips? The Alpha Seer’s first conjecture is this: Folks: you have all been fooled and misled by an old fart called Vasari. Of course we have greater art before the period called Renaissance, and many more artistic geniuses in the world before this period called Renaissance!!

Today we even have Postmodernism, and that is a real plague!

Open your eyes and survey all the so-called great buildings in the world today. Try to find me one building that is even one percent as close in beauty as the Taj Mahal, or the Alhambra!

How dare the modern nowadays associate those godly structures of yore with terrorism and anti-terrorism?

Postmodernism is a modern phenomenon, so is terrorism,–its political and existential offspring,–and that also go for its reaction to it, the religion spear-headed anti-terrorism.

You don’t agree, of course.
Why? because, “I don’t see the connections!” You said.

Of course you don’t see it. For that reason you have argued with Galileo about the shape of the world. There are many things that lead to this non-seeing. The I, me and myself thing, the belief thing, the moderation thing, the popularity thing, the herd instinct, the adoration of money and might, –it is not just stupidity or ignorance, it is way more complicated than that! The human mind is already well fucked up before one dies.

Enough! Speak with moderation!

But moderation is not the truth!

That reminds one of an advice the Alpha Seer gave to his teen daughter many years ago,– on writing.

And here it is:

Write with the luminosity and purity of your soul,
that is all you have and that is all you do,–nothing
more, nothing less,– so others may find a path to
you–TO TERRORIZE THE NIGHT!

****************************

REAL ART QUIZ

WHY IS THE IMAGE IN THIS ATTACHMENT CALLED ART? BECAUSE IN EVERY WAY IT IS A WORK OF ART. IT IS A WORK OF PERFECTION!
IT IS NOT JUST EXCELLENT.
IT IS PERFECT!
IT BELONGS IN THE REALM OF THE GODLY!

At the beginning another version of this same image was presented to the great master Knox Martin,– I believe many of you here in this room still recall… That was a version which is without the horizontal line on the upper left. It was still excellent, and everything was already in its right place. But guess what? The great master has rejected it? Why?– If you also know why, please go straight ahead and by all means continue as an artist, as art is definitely in your blood! Why did Knox reject it? He rejected it for no other reason than simply because excellent is less than perfect! Excellent still belongs in this world, wrought with accidents, conjectures, narratives, and sentiments, while perfection is the work and vocabulary of the godly.

One line has made such an impact! One line,–one line on the upper left has caused such a world of difference!

WHY IS THIS ART?
BECAUSE IT IS PERFECT!
HOW PERFECT?
IT IS ALHAMBRA PERFECT!
HOW PERFECT?
IT IS TAJ MAHAL PERFECT!
HOW PERFECT?
IT IS EGYPTIAN ART PERFECT?
HOW PERFECT?
IT IS GREEK ART PERFECT!
HOW PERFECT?
IN EVERY WAY, ART SHOULD BE COMMANDED BY THE LAWS OF YIN AND YANG (which involves supreme mathematics and geometry as well)

AND PLEASE NOTE : YIN IS YANG AND YANG IS YIN. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE BACKGROUND OR THE SPACE IN BETWEEN. WHY? BECAUSE YIN IS YANG AND YANG IS YIN

Knox

12:28 PM (10 hours ago)

RITE ON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!…

THE ABOVE COMMENT IS FROM THE GREAT MASTER KNOX MARTIN (WWW.KNOXMARTIN.COM)

February 2, 2015

The painter Chiang Tai Chin had a show in Paris. He was so famous in China that his work were sold for millions of dollars, and he specialized in “Chinese landscape.”

He invited Picasso to come to his opening.

Picasso walked in, made a round of the exhibition hall and came out. It took him less than 3 minutes. On his way out there was an old guy with a long white beard, all smiles, and bowing incessantly. Picasso’s friends told him it was the artist Chiang Tai Chin.